Famous Managers – Gordon Lee

Gordon Lee

Port Vale Manager 1968-1974

Hednesford born Gordon Lee took over at Vale Park in the summer of 1968 when the club was at one of its lowest ebbs, having had to seek re-election after been kicked out of the Football League for making illegal payments.

A former full back at Aston Villa, he was recruited by the Vale from Shrewsbury, where he was a coach for manager Arthur Rowley, to take up his first job in management, replacing Sir Stanley Matthews.

Gordon put together a team on a shoestring budget and led them to a mid-table finish in Division 4 in his first season in charge.  The 1969/70 season started with a club record 18 game unbeaten run before ultimately gaining promotion to Division 3.  During the rest of Gordon’s rein at the club the Vale became a well established third tier outfit regularly challenging in the top half of the table.

This was so far ahead of the situation Gordon inherited when he joined the Vale.  Significantly this improvement on the field of play was achieved with an absolute minimum of investment in the playing squad.

As a track-suited “modern” manager of the time, he focused on coaching and devised an individual coaching plan for each player. His development of the team included a strong emphasis on fitness and teamwork.  He had the ability to recruit largely unknown players, many from non-league clubs, and get them to gel together as a team which was hard to beat.

He left the Vale in 1974 to join Blackburn Rovers and subsequently had successful spells managing Newcastle United, Everton and Preston North End.

Gordon died in March 2022 aged 87.

Management style

“Gordon was a special person. He was so enthusiastic and I think that rubbed off on all his players. We had a fantastic team spirit because of that. He was so down to earth and instilled in us an honesty, wanting us to play that way and be that way. His standards were very high and I learned so much from him. You can’t help but learn from people like that.”

Brian Horton, who was signed for the Vale by Lee in 1970 and subsequently managed the Vale  between 1999-2004, talking to Sentinel correspondent Michael Baggaley in 2022.